Wick for oil burners



ug- 6, 1.940- A. F. HElNsoHN 2,210,290

WICK FOR OIL BURNERS Filed 'July 5, 19:59

sTATl-:s

Patented Aug. e, 1940 PATENT osi-'lcs WICK FOB OIL BURNERS Alvin F.lleinsohn, North Charleston, S. C., as-

Passaic,

Application .my s, ma sel-m N0. 282,616

s claims. (c1. 13a-42u) 'This invention relates to improvements in wicksfor oil burners or the like, and particularly to a woven fabric wick inwhich the edges thereof are formed of glass yarn.

Wicks ofthe class herein contemplated are vformed of elongated stripsand are adapted to be annularly conformed to fit into relatively nar--the fuel, the wick is in the path of the vaporizing fuelandassists insuch action, carbon resulting i from the distillation and incompletecombustion of the fuel collects and cakes on the wick and closes thepores thereof in a relatively short time,

so as to rapidly cut down its eiliciency, require frequent removal andclearing, and as a whole 'the lifethereof is short. 'Ihus it has beenfound that the limiting factor of life in an asbestos wick,

'as well as `anyother wick, is its ability to resist Ycarbon formation,while at the same time having good refractory and capillary properties.In gen- 'eral it has been found that a wick formed of asbestos vfabricis. most suitable for this class of Twicks since it has desirablerefractory and capii lary properties, and. when formed in elongatedstrips, can readily be cut and fit into the desired "burner, wickcompartment. However, asbestos wicks, `even whenformed of relativelyopen weave,

yat

-fas .well as other wicks having otherwise desirable wick"properties,`become rapidly encrusted with jcarbonzformation fand are required to befrequently replaced.,

It istherefore theobject of this invention to providev a, wick ofessentially woven fabric confstructi'on, andwhich while retaining thedesir- .'.able capillary properties has a long life, has restrands ofasbestos yarn and glass yarn, so

formed that the longitudinal 'edges of the wick, and particularly theedge which forms its upper portion is essentially glass yarn, and inwhich the filler strands may also be of glass yarn.- v

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from aconsideration of the following specication and drawing, wherein:

Fig. l is a fragmentary elevational view of an oil burner wickconstructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 of a modified form of construction.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a portion of a 'strand ,of glass yarnemployed in the forming of my improved wick, and further illustrateswire reinl5 forcement thereof.

Referring to the drawing, Figs. 1 and 2 illustrate sections of lengthsl0 of woven fabric which may be cut off into suitable lengths andinserted into the annular wick compartments of conventionalY oilburners, the lower longitudinal edge I l reaching to the fuel oil andthe upper longitudinal edge i2 lying in the zone of the flame and beingthe portion of the wick which is most exposed to contact with air duringthe combustion of the fuel. The body of the wick comprises essentiallywarp strands I3, which are preferably asbestos. although strands ofcotton or materials such as asbestos and cotton may be used. The

selvage, or longitudinal defining ,edges of the wick are formed ofseveral strands of glass yarn I4, and although the 'drawing disclosesthree warp strands of glass yarn in both the upper and lower edges, itwill be understood that two or more strands of glass warp yarns may beused, v and that only the upper edge I2 of the wick may be formed ofglass yarn.

In the woven wick construction shown in Fig. 1, the filler strands I5are also formed of glass yarn, vwhereas in the modified constructionshown in 40 Fig. 2, the ller strands I6 are of asbestos yarn, or othersuitable material equivalent to the warp strands of the intermediatesection of the wick. Fig. 3 illustrates in enlarged detail form aportion of a strand of glass yarn utilized as the filler in the wovenconstruction of Fig. .1, and comprises the wire reinforcement insertsIl. 'I'he use of wire inserts is, however, optional, and if desired maybe entirely'omitted, or may be included in any or all of the yarnutilized in the wick, whether it be the glass yarns or the asbestosyarns.

I have found that by using a wick formed in accordance with myinvention, carbon formation on the edge-comprising the glass yarn isrelatively loose, is freely removable, and leaves a 66 cleaner edge thanis possible with a construction having an asbestos edge, and as a resultthe life and efliciency of the wick as a whole is material- 1yincreased. Thus a wick embodying an interwoven fibrous glass yarn edgewas used daily for a period of five months in a stove used for cookingpurposes. before requiring replacement. However, even at the end of suchperiod of use the glass edge remained effectively free of carbondeposition.

Knowing that carbon forms on the edge of a conventional wick, and thaton one made in accordance with my invention carbon deposition is notablyabsent, it is my belief that the superior results obtained are due tothe fact that any carbon formed must have -been consumed. To consumesuch hard carbon two things were necessary. First, the temperature hadto rise until the ignition point of coke was attained, and secondly, asufficient supply of oxygen to support combustion was essential. Suchcondition can exist in the top edge of the burner, and on observation itappears that the flame produced by the glass edge Wick is hotter thanthe flame produced by an asbestos edge wick. It is my further beliefthatv a higher temperature is developed in the glass edge due to thefact that glass apparently reacts differently from asbestos to thedevelopment of higher temperature, and that since a higher temperaturemay be thusproduced with glass, there is consequently a hotter flameproduced due to improved distillation of the fuel. However. even thoughhigh temperatures are de'- veloped in the upper glass edge, examinationof the ends of the glass fibres comprising the yarns failed to discloseany fusion. Examination of a specimen of my improved wick wherein Athefiller was of glass yarn disclosed after use that carbon deposition onthe filler strands was less marked than on the remaining asbestos bodythereof, giving evidence to the supporting of higher temperatures by theglass yarn even though the lower `body portion of the wick is relativelyexcluded from access to air.

In order to further observe the effect of glass yarn in an oil burnerwick, a wick was woven of all glass yarn, that is, all of the ller andall of the warp strands were formed of glass yarn, although such an allglass yarn construction is more expensive than an asbestos-glass yarncombination Weave. The all glass yarn wick was subjected to a test runof equal length and under the same conditions as the glass-asbestoswick. However, at the end of the test run, whereas the glass-asbestoswick had a clean upper edge, as hereinbeforeset forth, the all glasswick did not have a clean edge. On the contrary the warp strands of andadjacent to the upper edge of the all glass wick had a heavy, black,adherent carbon formation. In addition it was observed that use of theall glass wick rendered it difficult to regulate the height of the flamethroughout its use. 'Ihese diflicultlesvofcarbon formation and flameregulation were probably due to the high capillaryproperties of glassyarn, so that in the wick of all glass yarn construction the lifting ofthe fuel to the upper edge of the wick was too great. resulting inincomplete combustion, and difficulty in flame regulation.

It will thus be seen that while in my wick construction I have retainedin the major body portion thereof material such as asbestos yarn whichis most satisfactory due to its refractory and capillary properties, byincorporating therewith, and particularly at its upper edge. fibrousmaterial that sustains a higher temperature, such as glass yarn, I havebeen able to provide a wick of improved life and efficiency, and bymeans of materials which in themselves do not produce as e'icientresults or are not as satisfactory as their combination, andparticularly their method of combination as described herein.

I claim as my invention:

1. A wick for an oil burner comprising a strip of woven fabric, aplurality of longitudinal edge defining warp strands thereof beingformed of glass yarn, the balance of the warp strands thereof beingformed of asbestos yarn.

2. A wick for an oil burner comprising a strip of woven fabric, aplurality of longitudinal edge defining warp strands thereof beingformed of glass yarn, the balance of the warp strands thereof beingformed of cottonyarn.

3. A wick for an oil burner comprising essentially a strip of wovenasbestos fabric and having interwoven therewith a plurality oflongitudinal edge defining warp strands of glass yarn.

4. A wick for an oil burner comprising a strip of woven fabric, aplurality of warp strands thereof lying in and defining the longitudinaledges of said wick being formed of gls yarn, and the intermediate warpstrands being formed of asbestos yarn.

5. A wick for an oil burner comprising a strip of Woven fabric. aplurality of warp strands comprising a central longitudinally extendingportion of said wick being formed of asbestos yarn, the balance of thewarp strands and the filler rstrands being formed of glass yarn.

6. A wick for an oil burner comprising a strip of Woven fabric, aplurality of warp strands comprising a central longitudinally extendingportion of said wick being formed of asbestos yarn, the balance of thewarp strands and the filler strands being formed of glass yarn, the saidfiller strands h comprising wire reinforcement.

7. A wick for an oil burner comprising a strip of woven fabric, aplurality of warp strands comprising a central longitudinally extendingportion of said wick being formed of asbestos yarn,

the balance of the warp strands and the filler strands being formed ofglass yarn, the said glass yarn comprising wire reinforcement.

8. A wick for an oil burner comprising a strip of woven fabric, aplurality of warp strands defining a longitudinal edge thereof and thefiller strands thereof being formed of glass yarn, the said strandscomprising wire reinforcement.

ALVIN F. HEINSOHN.

